A week before Christmas 1952, Burt's cousin Libby comes to his house after school. She's worried about things Burt was saying.
"Burt, I'm upset."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Some things you're saying frighten me."
"What are you talking about?"
"Like, first, Walcott is still the heavyweight champion. Then, the Dodgers won the World Series. And finally, Stevenson will be the next president of the United States. None of that is true."
"But, they should be. They're all the fair thing, right?"
"Well, maybe. But, that's not the point. They didn't happen and we have to accept reality."
"Why? Fairness is better. Life should be fair, shouldn't it?"
"It should be, but when it isn't, we have to accept it."
"Why? When things happen that aren't fair, it sucks. If we can change that, why not?"
"Because we can't change what really happens. Get used to it."
"I don't want to get used to it. I've had to live without a mother, you without a father. Isn't that enough? I've had enough reality. If we can change the world we live in, why not?"
"Sure, try to change the world going forward, but not create a different world in your head. That's crazy."
It's 25 years later, December 1977. Dear reader, we are at a psychiatric hospital where a doctor named Burt is talking to his patient, who coincidentally is also named Burt. They are discussing the same issues as the above Libby and Burt were doing back in 1952.
The doctor says, "Fighting against the constant tide of reality can be difficult and exhausting. My advice is this. Almost a thousand years ago, the French Jewish biblical scholar Rashi said, 'Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.'"
THE END
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